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violet · cool

#ac71cc

a balanced, vivid violet · cool · closest name: Medium Orchid

Token name suggestion: True Amethyst

RGB
172, 113, 204
HSL
279°, 47%, 62%
CMYK
16, 45, 0, 20
Luminance
0.2494

#ac71cc is a balanced vivid violet, 279° on the wheel and 62/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (5.99:1). As text it scores 3.51:1 on white — large text only. Nearest name is Medium Orchid, nearest Tailwind family is purple.

hsl(279 47% 62%)rgb(172 113 204)Base step 400AA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #ac71cc is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#ac71cc
Hue
279°
violet
Saturation
47%
vivid
Lightness
62%
balanced
Brightness
80%
HSV value
Perceived
57%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.2494
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
62/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
5.99:1
Closest name
Medium Orchid
ΔE2000 6.7
Chroma
55.0
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.646
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
purple
500 · ΔE 9.7
Web-safe
#9966CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue279° of 360°
Saturation47%
Lightness62%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #ac71cc.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool62% cool

Reads cool. Warm and cool siblings keep the same lightness, so you can swap one in without redoing your contrast maths.

Luminance by channel
Red35%
Green47%
Blue17%

Green carries most of what the eye calls brightness — that is why WCAG weights it 0.7152.

Every format

HEX#ac71cc
HEX (8-digit)#ac71ccff
RGBrgb(172, 113, 204)
RGBArgba(172, 113, 204, 1)
HSLhsl(279, 47%, 62%)
HSV / HSBhsv(279, 45%, 80%)
HWBhwb(279 44% 20%)
CMYKcmyk(16%, 45%, 0%, 20%)
LABlab(57.0 39.6 -38.2)
LCHlch(57.0 55.0 316.0)
OKLCHoklch(0.646 0.144 312.8)
XYZ (D65)xyz(33.82, 24.94, 60.15)
Decimal11301324
Display P3color(display-p3 0.675 0.443 0.800)
Web-safe#9966CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #ac71cc;
background-color: #ac71cc;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #ac71cc;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#ac71cc] bg-[#ac71cc]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #ac71cc;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.675, green: 0.443, blue: 0.800)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.675, green: 0.443, blue: 0.800, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#AC71CC</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFAC71CC)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFAC71CC)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(204, 113, 172)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(172, 113, 204)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(172, 113, 204)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 172, 113, 204)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6745f, 0.4431f, 0.8000f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{172,113,204}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #ac71cc 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #ac71cc 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#49225E, #E4D3EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #ac71cc h s calc(l - 7));

Design tokens

The same ramp in the four formats a team actually needs. Paste one and the whole palette lands with it.

css custom propertiesclick to select
:root {
  --brand-50: #F8F5FA;
  --brand-100: #F1EAF5;
  --brand-200: #E2D0EC;
  --brand-300: #CFACE1;
  --brand-400: #ac71cc;
  --brand-500: #9F5AC4;
  --brand-600: #8C41B4;
  --brand-700: #743696;
  --brand-800: #5D2B78;
  --brand-900: #452358;
  --brand-950: #2B1637;
  --brand: #ac71cc;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F8F4FA;
  --brand-border: #DCC3E9;
  --brand-hover: #9D57C3;
  --brand-pressed: #8C41B5;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #1F1424;
    --brand-ink: #E4D3EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F8F5FA',
        100: '#F1EAF5',
        200: '#E2D0EC',
        300: '#CFACE1',
        400: '#ac71cc',
        500: '#9F5AC4',
        600: '#8C41B4',
        700: '#743696',
        800: '#5D2B78',
        900: '#452358',
        950: '#2B1637',
        DEFAULT: '#ac71cc',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F8F5FA,
  '100': #F1EAF5,
  '200': #E2D0EC,
  '300': #CFACE1,
  '400': #ac71cc,
  '500': #9F5AC4,
  '600': #8C41B4,
  '700': #743696,
  '800': #5D2B78,
  '900': #452358,
  '950': #2B1637,
);
$brand-base: #ac71cc;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F8F5FA", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F1EAF5", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E2D0EC", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#CFACE1", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#ac71cc", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#9F5AC4", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#8C41B4", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#743696", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#5D2B78", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#452358", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#2B1637", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$value": "#000000", "$type": "color" }
  }
}

Best text color

Only one of black and white can be right. This is the one, with the number that proves it.

Readable at a glance#000000 on #ac71cc · 5.99:1
Use #000000AA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 3.51:1
AA fail · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 5.99:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #ac71cc as text scores 3.51:1 on white and 5.99:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #49225E at 3.58:1.

Make it accessible

A contrast checker tells you that you failed. This tells you what to ship instead — same hue, same saturation, lightness moved only as far as WCAG demands.

The quick fox
#9D57C3 · 4.58:1
AA on white−7% L
#9D57C3
The quick fox
#7B399E · 7.19:1
AAA on white−20% L
#7B399E
The quick fox
#ac71cc · 5.99:1
AA on blackalready passes
#ac71cc
The quick fox
#B784D3 · 7.25:1
AAA on black+5% L
#B784D3

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #AC71CC is enough for headings on white. Non-text elements such as icons, chart strokes and focus rings also sit at 3:1 under WCAG 2.2 (1.4.11).

Accessibility — WCAG contrast

Aa
#ac71cc on white: 3.51:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#ac71cc on black: 5.99:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #ac71cc as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #ac71cc.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White3.51:1AaAa
Slate 503.35:1AaAa
Slate 1003.20:1AaAa
Slate 2002.84:1AaAa
Slate 3002.36:1AaAa
Slate 4001.37:1AaAa
Slate 5001.36:1AaAa
Slate 6002.16:1AaAa
Slate 7002.95:1AaAa
Slate 8004.17:1AaAa
Slate 9005.09:1AaAa
Black5.99:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #5E86CF
deuteranopia · #6E8AC9
tritanopia · #A97F95

Roughly one man in twelve has some form of colour vision deficiency. If any of the three panels above is hard to tell apart from a neighbouring colour in your palette, add a shape, an icon or a label so the meaning does not rest on hue alone.

Color scale — 50 to 950

A Tailwind-shaped ramp built around this exact hex. #ac71cc is pinned to step 400; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F8F5FA
#F1EAF5
#E2D0EC
#CFACE1
#ac71cc
#9F5AC4
#8C41B4
#743696
#5D2B78
#452358
#2B1637
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F8F5FADarkest = 950 · #2B1637Text step on white = 600
Perceptual ramp — OKLCH

The same eleven steps expressed in OKLCH, where equal lightness numbers actually look equally spaced. HSL ramps go muddy in the yellows and washed out in the blues; this one does not. Modern browsers render it natively — the hex ramp above is the fallback.

50100200300400500600700800900950
oklch tokensclick to select
:root {
  --brand-50: oklch(0.97 0.036 312.8);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.058 312.8);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.087 312.8);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.113 312.8);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.133 312.8);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.144 312.8);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.144 312.8);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.136 312.8);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.121 312.8);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.101 312.8);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.079 312.8);
}

Colors that work with #ac71cc

Not a palette — a role sheet. Each swatch answers one question you will hit while building the component.

Text on it#000000
Black wins here
Surface#F8F4FA
Tinted page background
Border#DCC3E9
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#7F4B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#719A32
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#49225E
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F4ECF8
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#1F1424
Dark-mode background
Hover#9D57C3
One step down in lightness
Pressed#8C41B5
Two steps down
Disabled#D9CEE0
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#B778DA
Offset from the fill so it reads
Light mode
Everything in its place

Surface, border, heading and body all derive from this one hue, so the screen stays coherent without a second palette.

Primary actionSecondaryBadge
Dark mode
Same hue, inverted

Lightness flips, hue holds. The accent stays the anchor in both themes.

Primary actionSecondaryAccent

In real components

The same eight roles, wired into the interface patterns you will actually build with them. Every state below is a computed value, not a mock-up.

Buttons and states
Save changesHoverPressedDisabled
OutlineSubtleLinkFocused
Form field
you@company.com

Focus ring uses the light variant so the field still reads as one shape.

Send me product updates
Notice
Your export is ready

The file stays available for seven days. Download it before it expires.

NewBetaDraft
Data
Storage used68%
Acme LtdActive
NorthwindTrial
GlobexActive

How to use #ac71cc

Derived from its contrast, chroma and lightness — not from taste.

Works well for
  • Headings from 24px up on white
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Primary buttons and calls to action
  • Focus rings, active and selected states
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
  • Chart series and data categories
Use with care
  • Small text on white — under 4.5:1
  • Full-page backgrounds — tiring over long sessions
  • Pairing with a same-lightness hue — edges vibrate
Minimum size as text on white
24px / 18.66px bold
Safe as a fill behind white type
No — use #49225E
Safe as a 1px border on white
Yes

Meaning and mood

What a colour in this family tends to signal, and how this particular chroma and lightness change the reading.

creativepremiummodernimaginative

Violet sits between the warmth of red and the calm of blue, so it reads as inventive without reading as risky. Current shorthand for software craft.

This is a confident chroma: strong enough to lead a brand, restrained enough to live in an interface all day. The mid lightness keeps it versatile in both themes.

Worth knowing

Deep violets swallow detail on screens with poor gamma; check it on a cheap laptop panel.

Reads as
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyMedium-high
  • Weight38/100
  • TemperatureCool
  • ApproachabilityBalanced

Colour associations are cultural and vary by market. Treat these as a starting point for a conversation with your audience, not a finding about them.

Similar colors

One move away from this hex in each direction. Every swatch is its own page.

Color relationships

The wheel positions with their names attached, so you can grab the one you actually need.

Complementary#91CC71
Analogous left#7F71CC
Analogous right#CC71BF
Split-complement 1#BFCC71
Split-complement 2#71CC7F
Triadic 1#CCAC71
Triadic 2#71CCAC
Tetradic#CC7F71
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°279°

#ac71cc sits at 279°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red67.5%
Green44.3%
Blue80.0%
R · 0–255
172
0xac
G · 0–255
113
0x71
B · 0–255
204
0xcc

CMYK percentages

Cyan15.7%
Magenta44.6%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)20.0%

Total ink coverage is 80%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#ac71cc text on a black background

contrast 5.99:1

Card sample

#ac71cc text on a white background

contrast 3.51:1

Card sample

#ac71cc on grey

3.20:1

#ac71cc on its own surface

3.23:1

#ac71cc on its dark surface

5.06:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #ac71cc;
Background color
Panel with #ac71cc background
background-color: #ac71cc;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #ac71cc;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(172, 113, 204, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(172, 113, 204, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #ac71cc;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #ac71cc, #CC71AF);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ac71cc, #CC7199);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #ac71cc;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #ac71cc;
caret-color: #ac71cc;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #ac71cc;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F4ECF8;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #ac71cc;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#ac71cc 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #ac71cc over white; the bottom row is the same alpha over a checkerboard, so you can see what survives on a photo or a video.

Bottom row of hexes is the flattened result over white — use those when a design tool refuses transparency, or when you need a solid fallback.

alpha in every syntaxclick to select
rgba(172, 113, 204, 0.5)
rgb(172 113 204 / 50%)
#ac71cc80
hsl(279 47% 62% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #ac71cc 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#ac71cc1a#F7F1FA
20%#ac71cc33#EEE3F5
40%#ac71cc66#DEC6EB
60%#ac71cc99#CDAAE0
80%#ac71cccc#BD8DD6

Gradients from #ac71cc

Six recipes, each built from this hex and shown with the exact CSS that produced it.

Elevation
Same hue, three lightnesses — safe anywhere
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #C69EDC, #ac71cc 45%, #49225E);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #ac71cc, #C45B9A);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ac71cc, #91CC71);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #D4B5E4 0%, #ac71cc 45%, #49225E 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F8F4FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #9B97DA 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #D488C2 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #49225E 0%, transparent 65%), #ac71cc;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #ac71cc

Shades — darker

Tints — lighter

Tones — desaturated

Color harmonies

Nearest named colors

Ranked with CIEDE2000 across all 139 CSS keywords. Under ΔE 2 the eye stops telling them apart; over ΔE 10 they are plainly different colors.

#ac71cc in the real world

Where a color in this family tends to land, and the interface roles it is usually asked to play.

Industries
Creative toolsFintechBeautyLuxury
Common UI roles
ButtonsLinksFocus statesCharts
Print note

Converts to four-color process without much drama. Proof it anyway.

On screens

Holds up across typical panel gamma. Still worth checking on an uncalibrated laptop, where mid-tones shift most.

In dark mode

Usable as-is on a dark surface at 5.99:1.

Explore nearby colors

Small, deliberate steps away from this hex — useful when you are hunting for the version of a colour that finally feels right.

#ac71cc, answered

What color is #ac71cc?

#ac71cc is a balanced vivid violet, closest to Medium Orchid (ΔE2000 6.7). It sits at 279° on the hue wheel with 47% saturation and 62% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #ac71cc?

rgb(172, 113, 204) — 172 red, 113 green and 204 blue out of 255, or 67.5% / 44.3% / 80% by channel.

What is #ac71cc in HSL and HSV?

hsl(279, 47%, 62%) and hsv(279, 45%, 80%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #ac71cc a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.2494 and perceived brightness is 57%, so black text on it reaches 5.99:1.

Should I use black or white text on #ac71cc?

Black. It scores 5.99:1 against #ac71cc, versus 3.51:1 for white — AA at any size.

Is #ac71cc accessible on a white background?

#ac71cc on white scores 3.51:1, which only clears AA for large text — 18.66px bold or 24px regular and up. Darken it to #9D57C3 to reach 4.5:1, or #7B399E for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #ac71cc?

#91CC71 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #BFCC71 and #71CC7F, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #ac71cc?

For interface work: #F8F4FA as the surface, #DCC3E9 for borders, #7F4B9B for secondary text, #719A32 as an accent and #49225E for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #7F71CC and #CC71BF stays calm, while #91CC71 is the loudest partner.

What is #ac71cc in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(16%, 45%, 0%, 20%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #ac71cc warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 62 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #CC71CB; nudged cooler, #8A6FCE.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #ac71cc?

The purple family — its 500 step is #a855f7, ΔE2000 9.7 away. That is a visible difference, so define #ac71cc as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #ac71cc in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#ac71cc] or text-[#ac71cc], or register the whole ramp under theme.extend.colors.brand so you get bg-brand-500 and friends. The generated 50–950 scale on this page is ready to paste into your config.

What is #ac71cc with 50% opacity?

rgba(172, 113, 204, 0.5), or #ac71cc80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D6B8E6; over black, #563966.

Is #ac71cc a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #9966CC, ΔE2000 5.3 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #ac71cc mean?

As a violet, it reads creative, premium, modern. Violet sits between the warmth of red and the calm of blue, so it reads as inventive without reading as risky. Current shorthand for software craft. At this chroma the effect is amplified — it will dominate whatever sits beside it.

What gradient works with #ac71cc?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #C69EDC, #ac71cc 45%, #49225E). For more colour, a short hue run to #C45B9A keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #ac71cc in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #ac71cc at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.